Absolution

This book tells the story of three American women: Charlene, the wife of a businessman sent to Vietnam in the early sixties, Tricia, the wife an engineer also sent to Vietnam, and Charlene’s daughter. The first 7 hours of the book are told by Tricia, the next 2 hours are told by Charlene’s daughter, and the last hour is again told by Tricia. Tricia recalls about how she met Charlene (and her kids) in Saigon and how they became friends. Charlene was very charismatic and loved to organize things, especially charitable endeavours for wounded children, lepers, and AIDS victims. Tricia, quieter and shyer, got involved in all this but often wondered about the place of women at that time, the issues related to charity, and the role of the US in Vietnam. Tricia also dealt with her own difficulties, suffering several miscarriages and ups and downs in her marriage.

I have read several books about Vietnam, but never from the point of view of women, wives of the businessmen, soldiers, engineers, and other men sent to Vietnam during the war. I found this book really fascinating. It was as a reflection on charity, on doing good, and on going too far: do we want to help others because we sincerely think about them, or because we want to be recognized as a good person? Or to feel good about ourselves? Or, as the title of the book seems to imply, because we feel that we need to be forgiven for something wrong we’ve done? When American actions killed and wounded Vietnamese children, should American women really bring toys and gifts to these children to make them feel better? Or was giving those gifts and toys the only thing these women could do at that time? What about the white/safe/rich women who simply lived in their gated houses with their Vietnamese domestic servants and did nothing but attend tea parties and garden parties at the ambassador’s and the generals’?

The book is also a painful look at the place of women in the sixties. It’s all told with some humour and the ironic voice of an older Tricia, fortunately. For example, the book starts with a detailed description of a garden party with all its hypocrisy and social rules, which was truly hilarious (and so true)!

One thing bothered me early on: Tricia talks a lot about her days as a university student, attending many political protests with her friends. At first, I couldn’t see why these stories mattered, but then it hit me: they really show the stark contrast to the person she became in Vietnam: a trophy wife, in a hostile country, with no power to change things or fight for anything. Maybe that’s why she got involved in charitable work… until it went too far.

Reviews of the book sometimes mentioned that it mostly talked about « unimportant matters » instead of talking about the legitimacy of the war, dead children, poverty in Vietnam, etc. I disagree. The book didn’t dive deeply into any one of these themes, but they are all seen from the perspective of these women (who, at the time, knew nothing about what was really happening). For example, Tricia talks about the Vietnamese people who cook and clean and drive and « came with the house, » and how uncomfortable she is with the idea. And the last chapter brings up a tragic issue, too, and was heart-breaking.

I also learned something that I had never realized about the Vietnam War, but I’m still not sure about: were the potential oil resources in Vietnam driving the conflict more than communism?